scholarly journals The association between continual, year-round hunting and bellowing rate of bison bulls during the rut

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald J. Sarno ◽  
Melissa M. Grigione ◽  
Alessandra Higa ◽  
Eddie Childers ◽  
Trudy Ecoffey
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Bison Bison ◽  
Trophy Hunting ◽  
Focal Animal ◽  
Selective Harvest ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

The impact of hunting (selective harvest, trophy hunting) on the demography of mammals is well documented. However, despite continual year-round hunting of bison in some populations, little is known about how the behavior of survivors may be altered. Therefore, in this initial study, we used focal-animal observations in adjacent populations of continually hunted and protected Plains bison (Bison bison bison) in western South Dakota, to examine the potential impact of hunting on bellowing rate—an important behavior that serves to intimidate rival bulls and potentially influences mate choice by females. In addition to hunting, we investigated how the number of attendant males, number of adult females, group size, and number of days from the start of rut influenced bellowing rate. Bulls bellowed an order of magnitude more often in the protected population than in the hunted populations, whereas bellowing rate was not significantly different in the hunted populations. Hunting was significantly and negatively associated with bellowing rate, while all other predictors were found to be positively associated with bellowing rate. Furthermore, the impact of hunting on bellowing rate became more pronounced (i.e., dampened bellowing rate more strongly) as the number of attendant males increased. Changes in bellowing behavior of bulls (and possibly mate choice by cows) can alter breeding opportunities. Therefore, our data suggest the need for studies with broader-scale geographical and temporal replication to determine the extent that continual year-round hunting has on bellowing rate of bison during the rut. If reduced bellowing is associated with human hunting on a larger scale, then wildlife managers may need to adjust hunting rate and duration, timing (season), and the time lag between hunting events in order to insure that bison are able to express their full repertoire of natural mating behaviors.

Pound Wise and Penny Foolish? Weight Loss and The Dynamics of Health Care Spending

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G Koch
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Health Care Spending ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Dynamic Measures ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Current estimates of obesity costs ignore the impact of future weight loss and gain, and may either over or underestimate economic consequences of weight loss. In light of this, I construct static and dynamic measures of medical costs associated with body mass index (BMI), to be balanced against the cost of one-time interventions. This study finds that ignoring the implications of weight loss and gain over time overstates the medical-cost savings of such interventions by an order of magnitude. When the relationship between spending and age is allowed to vary, weight-loss attempts appear to be cost-effective starting and ending with middle age. Some interventions recently proven to decrease weight may also be cost-effective.

scholarly journals Impact of temperature and relative humidity on the transmission of COVID-19: a modelling study in China and the United States

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e043863
Author(s):  
Jingyuan Wang ◽  
Ke Tang ◽  
Kai Feng ◽  
Xin Lin ◽  
Weifeng Lv ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reproductive Number ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Higher Temperature ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

ObjectivesWe aim to assess the impact of temperature and relative humidity on the transmission of COVID-19 across communities after accounting for community-level factors such as demographics, socioeconomic status and human mobility status.DesignA retrospective cross-sectional regression analysis via the Fama-MacBeth procedure is adopted.SettingWe use the data for COVID-19 daily symptom-onset cases for 100 Chinese cities and COVID-19 daily confirmed cases for 1005 US counties.ParticipantsA total of 69 498 cases in China and 740 843 cases in the USA are used for calculating the effective reproductive numbers.Primary outcome measuresRegression analysis of the impact of temperature and relative humidity on the effective reproductive number (R value).ResultsStatistically significant negative correlations are found between temperature/relative humidity and the effective reproductive number (R value) in both China and the USA.ConclusionsHigher temperature and higher relative humidity potentially suppress the transmission of COVID-19. Specifically, an increase in temperature by 1°C is associated with a reduction in the R value of COVID-19 by 0.026 (95% CI (−0.0395 to −0.0125)) in China and by 0.020 (95% CI (−0.0311 to −0.0096)) in the USA; an increase in relative humidity by 1% is associated with a reduction in the R value by 0.0076 (95% CI (−0.0108 to −0.0045)) in China and by 0.0080 (95% CI (−0.0150 to −0.0010)) in the USA. Therefore, the potential impact of temperature/relative humidity on the effective reproductive number alone is not strong enough to stop the pandemic.

scholarly journals Using syndromic measures of mortality to capture the dynamics of COVID-19 in Java, Indonesia, in the context of vaccination rollout

BMC Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bimandra A. Djaafara ◽  
Charles Whittaker ◽  
Oliver J. Watson ◽  
Robert Verity ◽  
Nicholas F. Brazeau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Vaccination Campaign ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Additional Insight ◽  
Short Term ◽  
If Current ◽  
Vaccine Impact ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Background As in many countries, quantifying COVID-19 spread in Indonesia remains challenging due to testing limitations. In Java, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were implemented throughout 2020. However, as a vaccination campaign launches, cases and deaths are rising across the island. Methods We used modelling to explore the extent to which data on burials in Jakarta using strict COVID-19 protocols (C19P) provide additional insight into the transmissibility of the disease, epidemic trajectory, and the impact of NPIs. We assess how implementation of NPIs in early 2021 will shape the epidemic during the period of likely vaccine rollout. Results C19P burial data in Jakarta suggest a death toll approximately 3.3 times higher than reported. Transmission estimates using these data suggest earlier, larger, and more sustained impact of NPIs. Measures to reduce sub-national spread, particularly during Ramadan, substantially mitigated spread to more vulnerable rural areas. Given current trajectory, daily cases and deaths are likely to increase in most regions as the vaccine is rolled out. Transmission may peak in early 2021 in Jakarta if current levels of control are maintained. However, relaxation of control measures is likely to lead to a subsequent resurgence in the absence of an effective vaccination campaign. Conclusions Syndromic measures of mortality provide a more complete picture of COVID-19 severity upon which to base decision-making. The high potential impact of the vaccine in Java is attributable to reductions in transmission to date and dependent on these being maintained. Increases in control in the relatively short-term will likely yield large, synergistic increases in vaccine impact.

scholarly journals Ice Coverage Induced by Depositing a Water Drop onto the Supercooled Substrate at Extreme Low Vapor Pressure

Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 691
Author(s):  
Yugang Zhao ◽  
Zichao Zuo ◽  
Haibo Tang ◽  
Xin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Vapor Pressure ◽  
Substrate Temperature ◽  
Water Drop ◽  
Industrial Processes ◽  
Aircraft Icing ◽  
Ice Coverage ◽  
Fundamental Understanding ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Kinetics Of

Icing/snowing/frosting is ubiquitous in nature and industrial processes, and the accretion of ice mostly leads to catastrophic consequences. The existing understanding of icing is still limited, particularly for aircraft icing, where direct observation of the freezing dynamics is inaccessible. In this work, we investigate experimentally the impact and freezing of a water drop onto the supercooled substrate at extremely low vapor pressure, to mimic an aircraft passing through clouds at a relatively high altitude, engendering icing upon collisions with pendant drops. Special attention is focused on the ice coverage induced by an impinging drop, from the perimeter pointing outward along the radial direction. We observed two freezing regimes: (I) spread-recoil-freeze at the substrate temperature of Ts = −15.4 ± 0.2 °C and (II) spread (incomplete)-freeze at the substrate temperature of Ts = −22.1 ± 0.2 °C. The ice coverage is approximately one order of magnitude larger than the frozen drop itself, and counterintuitively, larger supercooling yields smaller ice coverage in the range of interest. We attribute the variation of ice coverage to the kinetics of vapor diffusion in the two regimes. This fundamental understanding benefits the design of new anti-icing technologies for aircraft.

scholarly journals Qualitative and quantitative assessment of magnetic vestibular stimulation in humans

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 353-361
Author(s):  
Rebecca S. Dewey ◽  
Rachel Gomez ◽  
Chris Degg ◽  
David M. Baguley ◽  
Paul M. Glover
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Objective Measure ◽  
Quantitative Measure ◽  
Vestibular Stimulation ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Clinical Test ◽  
Healthy Control ◽  
Student’S T ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Magnetic Field

The sensation of phantom motion or exhibition of bodily sway is often reported in the proximity of an MR scanner. It is proposed that the magnetic field stimulates the vestibular system. There are a number of possible mechanisms responsible, and the relative contributions of susceptibility on the otolithic receptors and the Lorentz force on the cupulae have not yet been explored. This exploratory study aims to investigate the impact of being in the proximity of a 7.0 T MR scanner. The modified clinical test of sensory interaction on balance (mCTSIB) was used to qualitatively ascertain whether or not healthy control subjects who passed the mCTSIB in normal conditions 1) experienced subjective sensations of dizziness, vertigo or of leaning or shifting in gravity when in the magnetic field and 2) exhibited visibly increased bodily sway whilst in the magnetic field compared to outside the magnetic field. Condition IV of the mCTSIB was video recorded outside and inside the magnetic field, providing a semi-quantitative measure of sway. For condition IV of the mCTSIB (visual and proprioceptive cues compromised), all seven locations/orientations around the scanner yielded significantly more sway than at baseline (p < 0.01 FDR). A Student’s t-test comparing the RMS velocity of a motion marker on the upper arm during mCTSIB condition IV showed a significant increase in the amount of motion exhibited in the field (T = 2.59; d.f. = 9; p = 0.029) compared to outside the field. This initial study using qualitative measures of sway demonstrates that there is evidence for MR-naïve individuals exhibiting greater sway while performing the mCTSIB in the magnetic field compared to outside the field. Directional polarity of sway was not significant. Future studies of vestibular stimulation by magnetic fields would benefit from the development of a sensitive, objective measure of balance function, which can be performed inside a magnetic field.

scholarly journals Searching for energy-resolved quasi-periodic oscillations in AGN

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic I Ashton ◽  
Matthew J Middleton
Keyword(s):  
Power Law ◽  
Spectral Component ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Periodic Oscillations ◽  
Single Observation ◽  
Curved Space ◽  
Multiple Observations ◽  
Band Noise ◽  
The Impact

Abstract X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in AGN allow us to probe and understand the nature of accretion in highly curved space-time, yet the most robust form of detection (i.e. repeat detections over multiple observations) has been limited to a single source to-date, with only tentative claims of single observation detections in several others. The association of those established AGN QPOs with a specific spectral component has motivated us to search the XMM-Newton archive and analyse the energy-resolved lightcurves of 38 bright AGN. We apply a conservative false alarm testing routine folding in the uncertainty and covariance of the underlying broad-band noise. We also explore the impact of red-noise leak and the assumption of various different forms (power-law, broken power-law and lorentzians) for the underlying broad-band noise. In this initial study, we report QPO candidates in 6 AGN (7 including one tentative detection in MRK 766) from our sample of 38, which tend to be found at characteristic energies and, in four cases, at the same frequency across at least two observations, indicating they are highly unlikely to be spurious in nature.

scholarly journals China’s Investments in Germany and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-119
Author(s):  
Xinming Xia ◽  
Wan-Hsin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Know How ◽  
Advanced Technologies ◽  
The Future ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Chinese State ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Gain Access ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis paper analyses how China’s investments in Germany have developed over time and the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in this regard, based on four different datasets, including our own survey in mid-2020. Our analysis shows that Germany is currently one of the most attractive investment destinations for Chinese investors. Chinese state-owned enterprises have played an important role as investors in Germany — particularly in large-scale projects. The COVID-19 pandemic has had some negative but rather temporary effects on Chinese investments in Germany. Germany is expected to stay attractive to Chinese investors who seek to gain access to advanced technologies and know-how in the future.

scholarly journals The potentially hazardous NEA 2001 BB16

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-190
Author(s):  
Ireneusz Wlodarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Mean Value ◽  
Optical Observations ◽  
Uniform Sampling ◽  
The Earth ◽  
22Nd Century ◽  
Lyapunov Time ◽  
Gravitational Model ◽  
Calculated Probability ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWe computed the impact solutions of the potentially dangerous Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2001 BB16 based on 47 optical observations from January 20.08316 UTC, 2001, through February 09.15740 UTC, 2016, and one radar observation from January 19.90347 UTC, 2016. We used two methods to sample the starting Line of Variation (LOV). First method, called thereafter LOV1, with the uniform sampling of the LOV parameter, out to LOV = 5 computing 3000 virtual asteroids (VAs) on both sides of the LOV, which gives 6001 VAs and propagated their orbits to JD2525000.5 TDT=February 12, 2201. We computed the non-gravitational parameterA2=(34.55±7.38)·10–14 au/d2 for nominal orbit of 2001 BB16 and possible impacts with the Earth until 2201. For potential impact in 2195 we find A2=20.0·10−14 au/d2. With a positive value of A2, 2001 BB16 can be prograde rotator. Moreover, we computed Lyapunov Time (LT) for 2001 BB16, which for all VAs, has a mean value of about 25 y. We showed that impact solutions, including the calculated probability of a possible collision of a 2001 BB16 asteroid with the Earth depends on how to calculate and take into account the appropriate gravitational model, including the number of perturbing massive asteroids. In some complicated cases, it may depend also on the number of clones calculated for a given sigma LOV1. The second method of computing the impact solutions, called thereafter LOV2, is based on a non-uniformly sampling of the LOV. We showed that different methods of sampling the LOV can give different impact solutions, but all computed dates of possible impacts of the asteroid 2001 BB16 with the Earth occur in accordance at the end of the 22nd century.

scholarly journals The impact of Sosnowsky’s Hogweed on feeding guilds of birds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Grzędzicka ◽  
Jiří Reif
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Bird Community ◽  
Plant Invasions ◽  
Bird Communities ◽  
Feeding Guilds ◽  
Guild Structure ◽  
Feeding Guild ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPlant invasions alter bird community composition worldwide, but the underlying mechanisms still require exploration. The investigation of feeding guild structure of bird communities can be informative in respect to the potential impact of invasion features on the availability of food for birds. For this purpose, we focused on determining the influence of the invasive Sosnowsky’s Hogweed Heracleum sosnowskyi on the abundance of birds from various feeding guilds. In spring and summer 2019, birds were counted three times on 52 pairs of sites (control + Heracleum) in southern Poland, at various stages of Sosnowsky’s Hogweed development (i.e. sprouting, full growth and flowering, all corresponding to respective bird counts). We have shown that the presence of invader negatively affected the abundance of birds from all feeding guilds. However, a closer examination of the invaded sites uncovered that responses of particular guilds differed in respect to development stages expressed by a set of characteristics of the invader. Ground and herb insectivores were more common on plots with a higher number of the invader, while the abundance of bush and tree insectivores was negatively correlated with hogweeds’ height. Granivores were not affected by the invader’s features, while the abundance of omnivores was negatively related to the number of flowering hogweeds. Besides showing the general negative impact of the invader on different feeding guilds, our research has shown that certain aspects of Sosnowsky’s Hogweed invasion may support or depress occurrence of different birds on invaded plots. Knowledge of these aspects may facilitate our capacity for coping with challenges the invasive plants put in front of bird conservationists.

scholarly journals Individual Condensation Trails in Aircraft Trajectory Optimization

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 6082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Rosenow ◽  
Hartmut Fricke
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Trajectory Optimization ◽  
Wind Shear ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Aircraft Trajectory ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Arbitrary Trajectory ◽  
Significant Factors

Contrails are one of the driving contributors to global warming, induced by aviation. The quantification of the impact of contrails on global warming is nontrivial and requires further in-depth investigation. In detail, condensation trails might even change the algebraic sign between a cooling and a warming effect in an order of magnitude, which is comparable to the impact of aviation-emitted carbon dioxides and nitrogen oxides. This implies the necessity to granularly consider the environmental impact of condensation trails in single-trajectory optimization tools. The intent of this study is the elaboration of all significant factors influencing on the net effect of single condensation trails. Possible simplifications will be proposed for a consideration in single-trajectory optimization tools. Finally, the effects of the most important impact factors, such as latitude, time of the year, and time of the day, wind shear, and atmospheric turbulence as well as their consideration in a multi-criteria trajectory optimization tool are exemplified. The results can be used for an arbitrary trajectory optimization tool with environmental optimization intents.

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